This is the story of a remarkable man who started his life in war-torn London, and who in his autobiography travels through the eight decades of his life recounting fascinating stories and sharing insights into his truly entrepreneurial character. Tim's first memory and experience is of surviving a German V1 flying bomb, which crashed and killed neighbours next door in St John's Wood. Tim and his brother Mike grew up in the bombed-out wreckage of the post war capital, with a dedicated and loyal mother, but without the influence of their father, a charismatic and largely absent Royal Naval Commander.
The kindness of family and a mystery benefactor ensured the schooling that launched Tim on his interesting, unusual and somewhat quixotic journey. Along with a move to the New Forest to a cottage without power or electricity, the scene was set for the challenges of his young life.
At school he developed an insatiable love of sport. His subsequent sporting prowess continued to enrich his life, first as a player of squash and tennis and then for many amateur football and cricket teams during the 60s, 70s and 80s. As a coach at various schools thereafter he acted as mentor for many young people and imbued in them a love of the game and a joy of competing.
He began his career working as a journalist at the Hampshire Chronicle in Winchester before moving to a public relations job in Mayfair with Elders and Fyffes Ltd, a company importing bananas from West Africa and the Caribbean. A chance meeting in a bar, however, changed the direction of Tim Parker's life, and he settled on changing light bulbs for a living. He personally changed over 250,000 of them in the early 1960s, and he did so despite the fact that they were all still alight and working. Why would you do that? Sleeping in a van with fluorescent lamps for his bed he travelled the length and breadth of Great Britain eating in transport cafes and parking at night in some of the most remote parts of the country. From this, the company Parkersell was born. The business went on to be a multi-national lighting company which he and his partners sold in 1988.
Tim then indulged his interest in education and his belief that success through learning enriches young lives and provides the leaders of tomorrow. Not content with the idea of retirement Tim bought a struggling preparatory school, turned around its fortunes and set about realising his dream.
In later years his love of the water and adventure saw him involved in many colourful and hair-raising tales of life on the high seas in his motor yacht Songbird. He cruised the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean on board his three successive motor yachts.
Tim is a man who has an almost insane belief in his own ability to achieve anything he sets his mind to. His story is also a rather charming discourse on a life lived 'on the edge' but with family, fellow sportsmen and mariners, friends and dogs, all of whom have been the lifeblood of his existence.
This book is an absorbing, amusing and sometimes controversial account of the life and times of an unusual man.
- ISBN13 9781899459063
- Publish Date 1 April 2021
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Short Books
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 272
- Language English